In general practice, lucerne and clover hay crops are mowed and then left for two to three days to enable the moisture content of the crop to be reduced to approximately 17%-20% of plant weight before baling. Unfortunately, by the time the stem of the crop plant has lost sufficient moisture to enable baling to proceed, the finer plant leaves may be overdried and consequently brittle. If the crop is baled in this condition, the leaf may be fractured from the stem and the bale may crumble during handling. The nutrient and market value of the crop will be reduced should fracture or powdering of the plant leaves occur. On the other hand, if the hay is too wet when baled it will not store well.
To overcome the problem of leaf brittleness, the hay is generally baled during the light dew conditions at night or in the early morning to enable the dew to remoisten the crop leaf sufficiently to reduce its brittleness and allow it to be handled without fracture or crumbling.
Understandably this process is unreliable and whilst waiting for appropriate dew conditions, losses of time may result. Furthermore, the hay will deteriorate whilst left in the field and it may also lose quality due to inclement weather damage.
One method of solving this problem has been to spray the crop with a water mist prior to baling. This method is generally unsuccessful because the relatively large size of the water droplets and consequent surface tension effects have prevented rapid penetration of the moisture into the leaf structure. Further, excess moisture remains on the stem and, as a result, the overall moisture content of the crop may be raised above the optimum level for baling.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a process which simulates the action of natural dew in which the crop is steam treated before handling or any major mechanised handling to create optimum moisture conditions at any time convenient to the grower.